|
Tunis:
Tunisian authorities were under fire today for their high-speed
sentencing in absentia of deposed strongmen Zine el Abidine Ben
Ali and his wife to 35 years in prison for misappropriating public
funds.
The court's quick verdict yesterday after only six hours of
deliberation on the first day of the landmark trial was dismissed
as a "charade" by some Tunisians and as a "joke" by a Ben Ali
lawyer.
"It is a big disappointment, the kind of charade of summary
justice that the dictatorship had accustomed us to," said
Mouhieddine Cherbib of a France-based Tunisian rights group today.
"We wanted a real trial, a fair one... a trial of the dictatorship
with people who were tortured appearing as witnesses -- a justice
system from which you learn something," Cherbib said.
A Tunisian court on June 20 sentenced former president Zine Al-Abidine
Ben Ali in absent to 35 years in jail, six months after
his ouster in a revolution helped inspire the “Arab Spring.”
Ben Ali was found guilty after just one day of deliberation of
theft, illegally possessing jewelry and large sums of cash.
The same sentence was handed down to his wife Leila Trabelsi, a
former hairdresser whose lavish lifestyle and clique of wealthy
relatives was for many Tunisians a symbol of the corruption of Ben
Ali’s time in office.
Ben Ali flew to Saudi Arabia on January 14 after mass protests
against his 23-year rule. While he was in office, members of his
extended family built stakes in the country’s biggest businesses
and accumulated vast fortunes.
Tunisia’s revolt electrified millions across the Arab world who
suffer similarly from high unemployment, rising prices and
repressive governments. Ben Ali’s has been watched closely in
Egypt, where former president Hosni Mubarak is due to stand trial
over the killing of protesters.
In a statement issued by his lawyers earlier on Monday, Ben Ali
denied all the charges against him, saying that he was the victim
of a political plot. He said he had been tricked into leaving the
country.
During the hearing, a prosecutor had asked the judge to hand down
“the most severe punishments for those who betrayed the trust and
stole the money of the people for their personal gain .... They
did not stop stealing for 23 years.”
The judge, who read out the verdict and sentence in the Palace of
Justice in the Tunisian capital, also ruled Ben Ali and his wife
would have to pay fines totalling 91 million Tunisian dinars
($65.6 million).
The judge said the verdict on other charges, relating to illegal
possession of drugs and weapons, would be pronounced on June 30,
according to a Reuters reporter who was in the courtroom.
|
Comments
|
Quick links